Gov. Walker: Back to Work Wisconsin Session Includes Bipartisanship

Every Thursday, Gov. Scott Walker delivers a weekly radio address. This Thursday's address was titled Back to Work Wisconsin.

The state has partnered with the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association to produce and distribute brief radio address once a week.  Audio files and a written transcript of this radio address can be accessed on http://www.wi-broadcasters.org and http://walker.wi.gov/section.asp?linkid=1761&locid=177.  To download an mp3 file you can visit http://walker.wi.gov/section.asp?linkid=1761&locid=177, right click the radio address link and click “save link as.”

Here is the transcript from this Thursday’s radio address:

Hi this is Scott Walker.  On our first day in office on Jan. 3 of this year, we called a Special Session to Open Wisconsin for Business.  We sent a message to job creators in our state and across our nation that Wisconsin welcomes and values jobs.  We implemented one of the most ambitious legislative agendas in the nation and we saw results. 

After our first Special Session Wisconsin jumped up 17 spots in CEO Magazine’s list of business friendly states – the largest jump in the nation.  Wisconsin job creators also had renewed confidence; in fact, 88 percent said the state was going in the right direction, that’s up from 10 percent the year before. 

Most importantly, over the first six months of the year Wisconsin created jobs at nearly twice the rate of the nation, until uncertainty over the debt crisis stalled the national economy. 

After traveling the state and hearing concerns about our national economy, I have a called a second special session named Back to Work Wisconsin. By calling another special session we are demonstrating to job seekers and businesses alike that jobs remain our first priority. Doing so will increase certainty and confidence in our state’s economy which will encourage businesses to add jobs.

This call for a special session is also where the rubber meets the road with regard to bipartisanship. For months I have been talking about the need to work together to move the state forward. Today, in my call for special session, I have included bills that are authored by both Republicans and Democrats. Some good ideas proposed by Democrats include making modifications to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, providing incentives to improve Wisconsin’s Technical College System, and providing tax exemptions for employers who provide bus passes to employees. Republicans have proposed making changes to the way we allow local units of government to tax and engage in financing, incentives to workplace wellness programs, and a number of other government reforms aimed at making state government more focused on partnering with businesses to create jobs. 

In this call for special session I asked the Legislature to work together to pass more than 20 legislative proposals built off of the collaborative work we began earlier this year.  Moving forward this will be an important step to show that getting Wisconsin back to work will remain my top priority. The Back to Work Wisconsin special session will help achieve the goal of ensuring our state has the business climate necessary for the private sector to create 250,000 new jobs by 2015.